FOXSportsOhio.com Night on Friday

It was bound to happen.  Seriously, this should be neat.  Please tune in and let us know what you think!

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Blue Jackets Foxsportsohio.com night

COLUMBUS, OH -- FOX Sports Ohio is excited to announce the Columbus Blue Jackets game telecast this Friday, November 15th will be FOXSportsOhio.com Night. When the Jackets host the Montreal Canadiens at Nationwide Arena this Friday, FOX Sports Ohio's broadcast will highlight FOXSportsOhio.com's Jackets coverage and reporting team.

Tune in to Blue Jackets Live pregame show at 6:30pm, where co-hosts Dan Kamal and Brian Giesenschlag will introduce the writers behind FOXSportsOhio.com's CBJ coverage, Rick Gethin, Alison Lukan, and Tom Fellrath.

Viewers can visit FOXSportsOhio.com/BlueJackets to "Ask the Experts" and submit questions for FOX Sports Ohio broadcasters Bill Davidge, Jeff Rimer, and Kamal. After the puck drops at 7:00pm, questions will be answered live during the game.

Throughout the game, viewers can also interact with the FOXSportsOhio.com team on Twitter using the hashtag #FSOCBJ.

So DBJ watched CBJ Game 17: Washington

Washington 4 - Columbus 3 (OT)

The Columbus Blue Jackets looked to continue their post-slump rebound in Washington DC's Chinatown and did so...to a degree...in falling to the host Washington Capitals, 4-3, in overtime.

I swear, I don't get this club.  When I think that they looked OK, the postgame interviews use words like "disappointing" and "embarrassing".  When I think they looked like Ice Capades, they talk about how hard they worked.  Guess I still have a lot to learn about this sport, even as I've been following the team for six or seven years now.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the CBJ are now tied for last place in the Metropolitan Division.  That would put anyone in a bad mood.

Anyway, here's my quickie take.  The first period was more or less played tightly.  It loosened up in the second with the perfect yin-yang of exchanged goals.  First, Mark Letestu and Brandon Dubinsky had this absolute beauty:


I love that goal.  Letestu flips it up onto the glass behind Holtby.  Dubinsky grabs it and pulls it around to the front of the net.  He rides through the crease, forcing Holtby to commit and then gently deposits it behind Holtby for the shortie.  Gorgeous work, from setup through completion.

Morgan's thoughts on Game 16: CBJ vs that other metro NYC team

Blue Jackets - 5 ; The team that thought Mike Milbury wasn't
the worst GM in the history of hockey - 2.

The Blue Jackets played host to the New York Islanders at Nationwide Arena tonight.  The Jackets were nestled in the thralls of a 5 game losing streak.  Coaches were dropping gloves, fans were crying for Prospal, leaders dropped subtweets.  It was a very awkward two days since Columbus played the New York Blue Jackets and a 5-2 win against the wandering Islanders is exactly what the Jackets needed to make twitter bearable once again.  #Vinning

It was also military appreciation night at Nationwide Arena.  This was a special night for me as I was at the game with my dad, a purple heart recipient who still struggles to talk about his military service decades removed from action.  This country wastes a lot of time trying to make amends for it's shortcomings of the past.  Military appreciation night is one of the things this country does right.  For my dad, his time in the service and intelligence community was the ugly parts of a Rambo movie and an Ian Fleming novel mixed together.  Special Nights like this help him heal a little bit.  When he returned home from hell 40 years ago, he was not welcomed with yellow ribbons or hugs on the runaway.  He was spit on and slapped across the face in airports.  Nights like tonight are not only for the brave men and women currently in service for this country, they are also 'wink and nod' apologies to those who served in the armed forces when it was less than popular to do so.  Thanks Dad for all you did and all you've taught me.  Wow, that got heavy... let's get back to Blue Jackets hockey.

DBJ thought he watched CBJ Game 15: New York Rangers

New York Rangers 4 - Columbus 2

The Columbus Blue Jackets slide hit five games tonight as they lost to the New York Rangers, 4-2, in regulation.  They're now 5-10-0, with 10 standings points.  That's one more standings point than the NHL laughingstock Philadelphia Flyers.

Hey Jarmo! You Didn't Re-Sign Our Top Scorer!! Game 15: Rangers

Seriously Jarmo.  You didn't re-sign Prospal, even though he was our top scorer.  So this one's on you brother.  As a season ticket holder, I am so pissed off I can't even see straight.  You brought in Gaborik.  He's yours.  Three (3) shots in 2 games, 36 minutes of ice time.  He's being paid star money.  That's not star production.  DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!! Karlsson took 7 in one game on Tuesday, and he's a doggone defenseman!.  Richie!  You control the ice time.  How bout some nachos for some of these guys.  Benching the Wookie (Prout) so Johnson can't clear Callaghan out of the crease on the PK doesn't seem right.

Dan Hinote.  Yeah, you.  I'm talking to you.  Keith Acton had the PK last year and it was great.  What's your role?  Is this your program?  It's not getting it done.  If you don't have veins popping out of your forehead when they practice the PK, you won't be long in this league.  The same players are bad on the PK this year that were good on the PK last year.  That's on you.  If it doesn't make you stay up at night, it should start now.  This team's keeping me up, as a fan, for all the wrong reasons.

The Rangers came in here and played a fraction of the game that they played against the Penguins last night.  Callaghan doesn't interfere with the goal tender, but does the best Tomas Holmstrom imitation I've seen this year, and the Rangers come away with a power play goal.  Letestu puts an unfortunate own goal past Bob, and that's all they need.

I loved Ryan Murray's goal after the Letestu own goal.  I swear he put it through the pipe.  When this kid gets pissed, he shoots the puck HARD.  That made me feel good.  He's still a rookie, and makes mistakes, which I can forgive.  He's got all the right stuff.  Go Murray, go.  As a snarky, grumpy old man, I totally appreciate what you are doing.  Let it flow kid, and don't pay attention to any of that crap above.  That's reserved for the veterans, who are not performing at your level.  Jack Johnson. <cough>

Grandma, you owe me big for this not being an expletive laced rant.  But ground rules are ground rules.  But you owe me adult beverages, and I mean plural.  Because I am pissed off about this game.  If last night's Rangers would have come in here I would have said they earned the game.  We let them skate by with a fraction, a win, and a dramatically lessened playoff opportunity in a mediocre Metro Division.

Jarmo, this one's on you.  You tried to fix something that wasn't broke at the trade deadline.  We nearly succeeded in spite of that last year.  But what you bought to fix the problem is even worse.  It's on you from here brother.  Fix it or wear it.  I'll be watching.  Because I'm an STH, and I damn well care.

I think the players do to.  I think they care, and I think they try.  Well, maybe except Gaborik, who should be playing in the slot, but wants to play on the boards.  We had Dorsett to play on the boards.  We don't need Gaborik on the boards, because he routinely loses those battles.  We don't need him in the crease.  That's Boone's job when he returns.  The slot should be his territory, and when he is there, he passes instead of shooting.  So fix it Jarmo.

Rant complete.  Carry on.

GO JACKETS!

Dubinsky's interviews tell the story

Gallos ably summarizes last night's interpretative hockey-ish performance by the Columbus Blue Jackets, and I pretty much agree with everything he says, so I won't belabor his points.

Instead, I'm going to focus on something that really caught my eye: Brandon Dubinsky's post-game interview on FOX Sports Ohio's "Blue Jackets Live Postgame".  Dubinsky appears to be widely acknowledged as the team's de facto captain, so I take his comments very seriously and appreciate that FSO makes a point of including him in the postgame interviews.  Not only is he an articulate, quotable guy, but his position within the locker room gives me a bit of a barometer sense as to the roster itself.

Brandon Dubinsky's interviews have proven to be "the tell"
as to where the Blue Jackets' collective head is at this season.

If you didn't know, I'm married to a lawyer - one who spends most of her time in litigation matters.  (Litigation, for those who don't know, is the art of actually trying a case, in a courtroom, in front of a judge and.sometimes a jury.)  She's rather good at her craft.  One of the things she's done over the years is develop an insight into human behavior in interview situations.  Whether a potential juror getting screened as to their fitness to sit on a jury or whether a witness on the stand, she looks for cues and hints from voice, body language and eye movement as to what the person is really thinking when they're saying something.  As in, "He's saying that he firmly believes the defendant was in the wrong but can't stop looking at his shoes.  Either he's scared, shy or lying through his teeth."  That type of stuff.  It's a fascinating field of study, one that often makes me think she's looking deep into my soul when I'm sugar-coating how a rough day was.

Gallos' Stifles a Rant on Game 14: Otttawa Senators

Three goals in three games.  Not enough to get it done kids.  Tonight the Columbus Blue Jackets fell to the Ottawa Senators, 4-1, the final margin being augmented by an empty net goal.  Simply put, when the Ottawa Senators snipers shot, they went top shelf corner.  When the CBJ snipers, and I use this term very loosely, shot, they either put it on the glass, in the netting and out of play, or in the goalie's chest.  Marion Gaborik was a non-entity tonight.  Two lousy shots in 19 minutes of ice time, the one beautiful chance he had, he put the goalie down, then held the puck for so long the defenseman recovered and blocked his shot on an empty net.  Pick up the phone Jarmo.  This isn't working. And for God's sake get Cam Atkinson off of his line right now! He's ruining the kid's game.  Cam played a north/south game last year on a bum ankle.  This year he's a confirmed east/west man.  I can't believe the stats say he had 3 shots.   I am here to say right now that the Cam at left wing experiment is a failure.  Pull the plug.

Oh, wait.  I'm stifling the rant.  Sorry.  <cough>

It's early in the year.  Lot's of games to played yet.  Sure we're squandering a home stand, and the team we face next, the Rangers, had a horrific start on a 9 game road trip, but has more points than we do.  No big deal.  Not time to hit the panic button yet.  He said through gritted teeth.

And another thing!  Whoever said RJ was any good at right wing?!  Theoretically, he can play center and right wing, if you are willing to tolerate abysmal, sub standard play.  If you want any production out of Umberger, you better play him at left wing.  So can we flip RJ and Cam, like, now?!

A couple of things I see that I really like.  While all of a sudden this year is threatening to head right into the tank, inch by inch, step by step, Ryan Johansen is turning into a dominant player.  The dude is just plain hard to stop right now.  A couple of times tonight I saw guys try to move him, and just get stuffed.  And one puck he just made a power move to the net, got a shot and a couple of whacks at the rebound.  He was a force tonight in a losing effort.  If he didn't have Roberto Duran Umberger (hands of stone) on his line, something might have happened.

The other is Ryan Murray.  The kid keeps getting better every game, and he is starting to shoot the puck with authority.  This is gonna come together for him.  Barring injury, he has a real good chance of being an excellent defenseman.  Yeah, Karlsson went wide on him, and put a laser in on McElhinney, top shelf corner. Some might call that a soft goal, I call it a heck of a shot that put Ottawa on the board.  And there was another goal on a broken play, then a man all alone in the slot that McElhinney had no chance on.  But he gets better every game.

I don't mind them getting zipped by the Pens so much.  That's a pretty good team.  Ottawa has a pretty good team too.  But it ain't getting any easier, and this is getting ready to spiral out of control, with a west coast road trip looming.  If they don't make hay while the sun shines in Nationwide over the next few games, it might get pretty gloomy on the 2013-14 season before Horton has a chance to affect it.

I'm not saying the season is over, but we are teetering on firming up a 'bad start', which must be recovered from.  It can happen.  But I wonder if it will.

Game Haiku:

Ottawa snipes goals

Jackets snipe defensive shins

Time to panic yet?

Ahhh, I'm just too frustrated after this game to think straight.  After 6 periods of scoreless hockey, and the one goal being scored on an off speed shot from his knees by RJ, I'm not seeing the firepower necessary to succeed in this league, much less the Eastern Conference.  Could be dark days ahead if they don't start scoring.

GO JACKETS!

Wash, rinse, repeat.

	SCOTT HOWSON	JARMO KEKALAINEN
WHAT TYPE OF COACH DID HE INHERIT	One who employed a defense-first philosophy	One who employed a defense-first philosophy
WHAT HE DID AFTER ARRIVING IN TOWN	Tinkered with the inherited roster. Squeezed a playoff appearance out of it, but the team didn't win a playoff game.	Tinkered with the inherited roster.  Came within a tiebreaker of squeezing a playoff appearance out of it.
WHAT HE DID IN THE FOLLOWING OFFSEASON	Jettisoned older "role model" players.  Threw his lot in with younger, arguably more skilled players in the pursuit of a different, more aggressive, on-ice profile.	Jettisoned older "role model" players. Threw his lot in with younger, arguably more skilled players in the pursuit of a different, more aggressive, on-ice profile.
WHAT HAPPENED THE FOLLOWING SEASON	Roster looked lost and apathetic on the ice.	Roster looked lost and apathetic on the ice.

We know how the first story ended: Scott Howson fired Ken Hitchcock, and things didn't get much better.  What will Jarmo do?

Gallos' Thoughts on Game 13: Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins shut out the Blue Jackets last night, 3-0 before a crowd that was probably half Pittsburgh fans.  In the game, the Blue Jackets accomplished part of what they wanted to do, which was keep the Penguins from tearing them up in transition.  They clogged the neutral zone, and kept the Pens transition game in check.  This however, did not prevent the Penguins from getting behind the defensive coverage a couple of times, which resulted in goals, one an own-goal, captioned by an empty netter at the end.

The Jackets' emphasis on clogging the neutral zone also stifled their own offense, and any sustained offensive pressure was usually derailed by the Jackets desire to make pretty east-west passes instead of shooting at the rookie goaltender at any opportunity.  This allowed the Pittsburgh defense to keep the puck in front of them, and sent the CBJ scurrying back to the neutral zone.  While the Pens rookie goal tender earned his first shut out, my buddy Bill remarked that a chair placed in goal would have probably fared the same.  He was not seriously tested by the Jackets.

The highlight of the night was the announcement that the All-Star Game would be coming to Columbus in January of 2015.  It will have been 3 years since the last event of this nature, which should bring a freshness to the proceedings.  I'm looking forward to it.

All in all, it would have been highly desirable to not be swept by the Pens.  On the other hand, they showed why they were the prohibitive cup favorites last year.  We are not in a race with this team, they already have the Metro won.  The rest of the Metro remains in reach.  As long as we can keep it that way until Christmas, when reinforcements arrive, we should be in OK shape for a playoff run.

Game Haiku:

The Pens gain shut out

The Jackets gain All-Star Game

The Metro is a mess

GO JACKETS!

Adam Foote's Other Legacy

Tonight, the Colorado Avalanche will retire Adam Foote's jersey, in Columbus, not so much.  In Columbus, Foote left behind a legacy of 'me first', a Captain forcing his way out of town because that meany Hitchcock was actually forcing him to take responsibility for the room.  The wife didn't like Columbus, Hitch was making them work for their money, and a budding playoff run is snuffed out in a cloud of kerosene fumes from the waiting private jet that whisked Foote back to Colorado (via Minnesota I believe).